Yesterday morning I was riding by some parked car,and although I wasn't doored, a driver was about to open his door, but didn't when he saw me. A thought occured to me then, that perhaps a blinking headlight, aimed at where a parked car's mirror would be, might alert a driver to your presence.

Does anyone do this during the day?

I've never had this problem but then again I don't ride close to parked cars unless forced to do so by a car driving down the center of the road.

That's not a bad idea tho to point a light to the side.

Yes. Place the blinking headlight in the door zone as a reminder not to ride there.

Avoiding dooring is easy - just don't ride too close to parked cars. Automobiles very rarely drive so close to parked cars as to be hit by opening doors - if they did, then I think that cyclists would have less of an issue.

While I 'take the lane' (staying well out of the 'door zone') and do have a blink setting on my headlight, it only works great, if you are looking directly at it. It is extremely bright but, when it comes to illuminating the road starting at dusk it is a piece of junk. Also, The static flash setting, is not fast enough to really make a difference. The static flash setting, repeats at the same rate as a slow dripping water faucet.

To counteract that problem, at a turn I will weave my front tire, so as to move the light like trying to get someone's attention with a flashlight.

I wish I had a headlight with a static flash setting, that was similar in design, to lights that are sometimes on fire trucks. I am specifically referring to the spinning red lights. But having the same function in a static light, without the physical spinning of the whole light apparatus, just the spinning pattern within the static feature of the light itself.

The way to not get doored is to stay out of the door zone.

Sometimes when one cannot completely avoid the door zone due to poorly designed bicycle infrastructure, a low powered blinking headlamp in conjunction with a more powerful non strobe headlamp wouldn't be a bad idea.

Just say 'NO' to poorly designed bicycle infrastructure - don't ride in a door zone, even if some well-intentioned engineer has painted a bike lane there.

I don't think a driver will see the light in the mirror, blinking or not.

If you ride close enough to cars that you could get doored, anything that increased your conspicuity would reduce the chances by some small amount. Nothing I can think of would reduce it enough for me to ride in the dooring zone.

Headlights mounted on handlebars are at, or very close to, most side view mirrors, so you would think that they would be highly visible to someone sitting in the driver's seat. However, some drivers are just too determined to be oblivious to what is going on around them. So a flashing headlight should help, but you can't count on it.

Jim

Yep...I never ride in The Door Zone.

Daytime visible flashing front lights have the deserved reputation of reducing right of way violations in front of a bicyclist.

a recommended safety enhancement for bicyclists is running a daytime visible flashing front light to increase your forward conspicuity.

however, to prevent dooring, ride outside the door zone.

It can possibly help, but as everyone else has mentioned, the only sure way to prevent it is to stay out of the door zone.

FWIW, I ride with my headlight flashing even on the brightest day. My coworker told me one bright morning that he saw me coming down the street about 1/4 mile away.

I have been running Dinotta front & rear daytime flashers for about 2 years now. Not only do cagers notice me better I get more room when they pass. The front seems the most important. I do not ride on the streets without them.

Poor designs sometimes get rammed through so bike infrastructure can be put on the books, then it gets real tiresome trying to explain to Bubba in his lifted truck, and Moe Trucker in his semi, and Jane Soccermom in her SUV why you're riding in the regular travel with an "apparently clear" bike lane next to you.

I've witnessed numerous people stop and wait to open their door until I passed when I approached with a pretty bright front flasher. I try my best to avoid the door zone, and these times I was not in the zone, but was noticed anyway. Obviously I don't have a control to know if they would have noticed without the light or not. I've also witnessed people stop whatever they are doing and start looking in their mirrors and around to try to figure out what the bright flashing light is coming from. My MiniNewt 600 has a bright enough flash to actually light up the inside of a darkened car as I approach. This happens at night, not so much during a bright and sunny day.

I've watched too many motorists jam their doors open without so much as a glance in their mirror to ever ride in the door zone. I have even had several open their doors as I passed them at night when I am lit up like a Solstice Tree.

That's why I don't bother trying to explain. I just smile and wave at the car honking impatiently behind me. Even if they follow me for a mile, they've only added 5 minutes to their day. I don't think I've ever had anyone follow me for more than a mile, and even then that was only once in the winter when I had no where to go.

Most of the time, I can find a long enough stretch of no cars in a poorly position bike lane that I'm not out in the lane with cars behind me for more than a minute or so.

And I don't have any illusions that people check their mirror before opening their door, so they wouldn't see might light.

The driver didn't open the door because he saw you (presumably having looked) so having a light wouldn't have made a difference.

Had he not looked before opening his door then having a light wouldn't have made a difference either.

I have ZERO faith in people's peripheral vision; seeing the utter lack of it on a daily basis, I believe people in general are too self-absorbed to care about what goes on around them.

I live in 'the hood', a notoriously more unsettled area; people carry illegal weapons, crime is casual, even accepted, and you'd think, because of that, that people would be self-aware of potential danger. NOT SO. I can casually 'sneak up' on people easily, without even trying! Usually, by the time a reaction comes to a situation, it's at least half-over.

BUT, any preventive measure is better than none at all.......

I believe that my helmet light on "blink" helps, but doesn't prevent. It is bright enough that it can illuminate the cockpit in a car pretty well, but the only way to keep from getting doored is to ride more than a door's width from the cars.

I am convinced that my light on my bars is helpful on flash, but the helmet light that I can direct where I want is the best.

I run my light whenever I ride (dyno hub with LED light). I think it helps reduce left hooks and drivers pulling out on me, but to avoid dooring I stay out of the door zone as most here have already mentioned.

Yes, I run daytime lights, steady and blink on the bars, red blink on the rack of helmet and rack.

I'd advocate that everybody should ride with BRIGHT lights even in daylight while on the road (door zone or not). I'd recommend having a backup for night commuting, just in case.

I opted to purchase a NR MiNewt 600 Cordless ($120USD on sale) to use for my daylight, on-street, rides after being right hooked in a bike lane. I was riding downhill, westbound, in a straight bike lane, on a dry, clear, day, while the sun was still high in the sky. Traffic was stop-and-go to my left, but I never expected the guy 3 1/2 car lengths ahead of me to suddenly turn into Taco Bell's driveway.

I run with my lights on during the day. Bright flashing front light, two blinking tail lights (one on back pack the other on the seat post)


The other day a bloke I work with told me that he saw me 500 meters down the road. Well, he didn’t see me, he saw a bright flashing light, then he saw a cyclist (in high vis clothing)